Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Protonex Awarded $3.3 Million Contract to Develop a Deployable Fuel Cell Power System for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Protonex Awarded $3.3 Million Contract to Develop a Deployable Fuel Cell Power System for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass.----Protonex Technology Corporation (LSE: AIM: PTX and PTXU), a leading provider of advanced fuel cell power systems for portable, remote and mobile applications, today announces that it will develop a robust, deployable pre-production fuel cell power system, designed for powering a small, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will be capable of extended flight duration and mission endurance. This work will be completed under an awarded $3.3M contract ($2.2M base award with a $1.1M option) from the Department of Defense (DoD) and will draw on continuing developments by Protonex of its unmanned power systems and UAV technologies.

Under the terms of this contract, which was expected by management, Protonex will customize one of its fuel cell power platforms and will integrate it into development partner, AeroVironment’s (NASDAQ: AVAV) “Puma-AE” UAV. The resulting UAV, powered by the Protonex fuel cell power system, is expected to enable new long-duration missions, not previously feasible with hand-launched UAVs powered by advanced batteries.

Protonex has already demonstrated its fuel cell power systems for small UAVs through programs with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, the Naval Research Laboratory, and AeroVironment. Most recently, AeroVironment’s Puma UAV, utilizing a highly advanced fuel cell system from Protonex, broke its previous flight records and flew continuously for over nine hours—three to four times the endurance capability of its current rechargeable batteries.

Until recently, extended flight endurance capabilities were only achievable with larger scale, more costly UAV platforms. With the introduction of cutting-edge fuel cell propulsion systems from Protonex, new missions such as persistent surveillance, search and rescue, chemical-biological monitoring, and other long-endurance specialty missions can be achieved by smaller, more flexible, and cost-effective UAV platforms.

“This contract represents yet another significant milestone on our path towards the full commercialization of our power systems for UAVs and is a culmination of our development and demonstration efforts to date,” stated Dr. Paul Osenar, Chief Technology Officer, Protonex. “We look forward to continuing this progress to extend the reach of this UAV technology to other military and commercial markets.”

Protonex Technology Corporation develops and manufactures compact, lightweight and high- performance fuel cell systems for portable power applications in the 100 to 1000-watt range. The Company’s fuel cell systems are designed to meet the needs of military, commercial and consumer customers for off-grid applications underserved by existing technologies by providing customizable, stand-alone portable power solutions and systems that may be hybridized with existing power technologies. The Company is headquartered in Southborough, Massachusetts.

Building on a history of technological innovation, AV designs, develops, produces, and supports an advanced portfolio of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and efficient electric energy systems. Agencies of the U.S. Department of Defense and allied military services use the company’s hand-launched UAS to provide situational awareness to tactical operating units through real-time, airborne reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition. Commercial and government entities use AV’s clean transportation solutions such as electric vehicle test systems and electric vehicle fast charge systems, as well as its clean power solutions.

This announcement includes statements which are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this announcement, including, without limitation, those regarding Protonex’ financial position, business strategy, plans and objectives of management for future operations (including development plans and objectives relating to Protonex’ products and services) are forward-looking statements. By their nature, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Protonex to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include but are not limited to those described in the Admission Document issued in connection with the Company’s admission to AIM.

Forward-looking statements may and often do differ materially from actual results. Any forward-looking statements in this announcement speak only as at the date of this announcement and are subject to risks relating to future events and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relation to Protonex’ operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity.

News & Stories Published at Clean Energy Stocks BlogResearch Renewable Energy and Cleantech stocks as an Investor Ideas member and gain access to the stock directories.Member sign-up- http://www.investorideas.com/membership/

Publish your cleantech news

Be our Top News Story, Get 2 Day Social Media NewsDistribution and we send your news to subscribers/ media in your sectorOur 2 day social media blast plus we make your news top news story for one day and we send your news to subscribers and media in your sector Increased impressionsand increased social media posting for 2 days! Have your newsgo through social media a minimum of 16 times over 2 days plus we boost your impressions on Twitter. Your news is instantly distributed on Google news andour RSS feeds for news syndication globally and we put your #hashtags and $cashtags right in the headlines – so your news is distributed on social mediain a way that gives you instant eyeballs. Your Hashtags are immediately picked up on Twitter, Facebook social media profiles and more.. We will also changethe headlines for the social media postings using different keywords and hashtags for increased exposure during the 2 day period. Get the social media buzz your news doesnot get with other newswires. We send you a report at the end of the day to see where your news is published. This service is limited to 3 news releases per day so book now!BuyNow $500 -

Renewable energy /cleantech stock direcory

List of publicly traded cleantech stocks

Be a Featured Cleantech Company

Investorideas.com Showcase

Green Funding directory

Check out our best green investor tools: Green Funding Directory - lists over 500 firms to fund and invest in your green businessOur Global Green Fund and Venture Capital Directory is now Available for just $99 year. Buy it and get your directory emailed to you today in a PDF! Buy NowWe give you the tools and contacts to start the funding process! Start today - get on the phone and start emailing leading funding sources.The Global Green Fund and Venture Capital Directory currently lists over 550 global firms including green funds, investors, venture capital and investment banking firms in the cleantech sector. The PDF Format lists firms geographically by Country with a company description, investment specialty, contact info and hyperlink to company contact webpage with clickable links throughout. We will also make sure you are updated each month!

Investorideas.com supports the use of social media however content posted through these channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc) is not to be taken as an endorsement of the information as we are not always able to ensure its original accuracy. Information provided on social media sites is not deemed to be a binding representation, agreement or endorsement on the part of the company. Please do your due diligence and always check facts in online communication channels. If any questions arise in this regard, feel free to contact us .

BC Residents and Investor Disclaimer : Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info: http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894